Refrigerating apparatus



May 17, 1938. L. A. PHlLlPP REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed Nov. .1, 1935 INVENTOR. aw/Elms PHILIP? ATTORNEY.

Patented May 17, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,117,570 REFRIGERATING APPARA'IUS Lawrence A. Philipp, Detroit, Mich., assigner, by

mesne assignments; to Nash-Kelvinator Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Maryland Application November 1, 1935, Serial No. 47,747

3 Claims. (Cl. 62-102) concentration at which time the odors are readily detectable and are objectionable.

l One of the objects of my invention is to cool the foods in a refrigerator to lower the rate yat which the odors are given off, and to remove the odors generated bythe foods as fast, or faster,

than the odors reach a concentration at which same are detectable.

. Another object'of my invention is to circulate the air in a food storage compartment, employing the aforesaid odor remover, over a non-frost cooling element so as to provide for .absorbingsome 2d of the aforesaid odors by conducting the absorbed tor where the odors are absorbed in the water in said collector. A i

Other objects` and advantages will Vbe apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is va front elevational view partly sectional showing a two temperature non-frosting refrigerator arranged with forced convection odor v absorbing means in accordance with my invention; i Fig. 2 is a sectional view on line 2-2 thereof;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view partly broken away illustrating a modified embodiment of my invention;

v Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic illustration of a refrigerant condensing .element used in connectionwith the apparatus shown in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged view of a refrigerant control valve embodying features of my invention.

Referring more Particularly to Figs; 1 and 2 of the drawing, my refrigerator comprises a heat insulating cabinetrl, the interior of which is divided by a partition wall 3, preferably of heat i11- sulating material, to provide a food storage compartment 5 and a cold freezing compartment 1. The cabinet has two doors 9 and Il whereby the two respective compartments 1 and -5 are separately accessible. The refrigerator 'doors are hinged along the outer edges thereof by. hinges' I3 of suitable construction, an'd latching means l5 may be4 provided for securing the opposite edges thereof in a well known manner.

'I'he cold freezing compartment 1 is provided moisture on the cooling element to a drip collecwith a heat absorbing Vuna n which is mounted in the upper portion thereof. 'I'he freezing compartment cooling unit I1 is preferably composed by assembling a plurality of horizontally disposed vertically spaced freezing plates I9 which comprise shelves for receiving trays of water or other material to be frozen.

'I'he freezing shelves I9 are secured within a supporting enclosure 2| which is supported by laterally projecting flanges`23 abutting the upper wall of the freezing compartmentand to which they maybe fastened by suitable screws or other fastening means passing therethrough. Each individual freezing shelf I9 may comprise aplate to which a refrigerant receiving conduit is secured in serpentine coils in'intfmate heat exchange relation, asby soldering, thereto, for example, or, if desired, a flat hollow casing may be utilized. freezing shelves I9 are interconnected by means of suitable interconnecting conduits 25 to receive `refrigerant therethrough in series relation from a condensing element 26. y

To cool the food storage compartment 5 sutil- .ciently to maintain proper temperatures for the storage of food articles therein, I provide a vertically disposed plate evaporator 21 therein. The plate evaporator is mounted by suitable` bracket means 29 in spaced relation from the heat insulating partition wall 3 at the end of the storage compartment 5 preferably adjacent the upper wall. The plate 21 `comprises a flat metallic plate are secured, asby welding or soldering, or the plate may be a flat hollow casing in which a volatile liquid refrigerant is vaporized to cool the food storage compartment, as will be readily understood. "A suitable inlet 28 and outlet conduit means 38 are connected to plate evaporator 21.

In order that the food storage compartment may be suillciently cooled to a temperature preferably between .40 and 46 degrees Fahrenheit by evaporators 21, while the platelike evaporator I9 is operated near or above the freezing temperature of water, I provide aA valve or'xedrestriction 30. In order to keep uniformv temperatures in compartment 5, I provide an air-deecting blower or fan 3| which is mounted in the upper portion of a remotely disposed corner of the com- 'partment. 'Ilhe fan 3| is operatively secured upon the`end of shaft 33 which extends through -an aperture in the side Wall of the cabinet for driving connection with a small electric Vmotor 35 which is mounted on the outside of the wall. The motor 35, if desired, may be located withincom- V partment 5. 'Ihe blower is preferably of the cen- TheV ` to which coils of refrigerant receiving conduit Y higher temperature.

toward the'upper edge of the plate evaporator 21 at the opposite end of the compartment. When the blower operates, the air is drawn from therbottom of the compartment and circulated at high velocity over the top of the plate evaporator 21 whereby the compartment is sufficiently cooled and stratification is eliminated, substantially uniform temperatures being maintained in all positions inthe compartment.

In order that air which is circulated by the blower 3| may be simultaneously filtered and deodorized, a suitable absorbentmaterial, such as activated charcoal 42, is supported within the inlet channel 39 of the blower between a pair of foraminous screenlike members 43. The screens 43 for supporting the charcoal may be secured together by an annular member 45 concentrically fitting into the air inlet 39, whereby the filter unit comprises a conveniently replaceable car-- tridge. In this manner, the lter material may be conveniently replaced, or it may be readily removed for heating to reactivate the charcoal if desired.

The air convection motor 35 may be connected for energization simultaneously with the condensing element 26, or it may be connected directly to the line for continuous operation, as will be readily understood.

In accordance with my invention, air in the compartment is thus circulated rapidly over the upper edge of the plate evaporator 21; either con-v obtained from the evaporator 21 while it is operated at temperatures above freezing, moisture which condenses thereon will not freeze and will be partially reabsorbed by the circulating air. Since the moisture is not frozen out of the air but substantially returns therethrough as the air is simultaneously filtered and circulated to eliminate stratification, the dehydrationof food products is thus avoided, and the proper conditions for the preservation of food are substantially maintained. As shown in Fig. 3, the air convection forcing blower'3l .may be mounted on the side wall of the compartment at a position which is nearer the evaporator plate 5l with nozzle 53 of the fan enclosing housing-extended toward the edges of the 'cooling plate. By this arrangement of the blower, a larger portion of the filtered air is circulated at high velocity between the cooling plate and the adjacent side wall and a portion of additional vair is drawn into the stream of air passing behind the evaporator plate, as indicated by the dotted arrows at A. By providing heat conductive ilns 55 on the back of the refrigerated plate 5I adjacent the side wall, the thermal coupling or the circulated airwith the plate may be substantially increased.

In this manner, the desired degree of refrigeration may be obtained from a smaller evaporating plate or one'which is operated .at a substantially A similar activated charcoal filterl cartridge is provided in the air inlet aperture for filtering the air as it enters the fan whereby it is simultaneously purified and distributed uniformly throughout the compartment. In either arrangement, the natural circulation of air is not obstructed and if the convection fan is turned oif, the box can still be cooled by natural convection.

In practlce, I have found that by the use of a fan with the proper odor absorber, such as charcoal, it is possible to absorb the odors given off by the foods in compartment 5 at a rate faster than the odors are generated above a detectable stage. This is accomplished by first cooling the air to lower the rate at which the odors are given olf and operating the fan at a predeter mined speed and utilizing a certain amount of odor absorbing material and so positioning the odor absorbing material that all of the forced air of the refrigerating cycles of condensing elementV 26, and due to said restriction the evaporator I9 operates at freezing temperatures. When moisture is condensed on evaporator 21, it is conducted to a suitable drip collector 69 where some of the odors are absorbed or dissolved in the water collected in the drip container.

Preferably, the system is intermittently operated. Any` suitable control, such as a thermostat responsive to changes in temperature in evaporator 21, may be used to control the operation of the condensing element 26 in the well known manner. 'I'he condensing element 26 may be of any suitable construction desired. As herein shown, the element 26 includes a compressor 10 voperatively connected with motor 1|. 'Ihe compressor vwithdraws evaporated refrigerant from evaporator I9 through a suction return line 15, compresses the evaporated refrigerant and delivers it to a condenser 18 wherein it is liquefied and from which it is delivered to a high side float mechanism 11. Liquid refrigerant is delivered .from float 11 to evaporator 21 through conduit 28 under the control of float 11.

Although only a preferred form of the invention has been illustrated, and that form described in detail, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made therein Without departing from the spirit of the invention or from the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. InA a refrigerator consisting of a storage chamber, a cooling means disposed in said storage chamber, and a combined fan and odor removing means located within the storage 'chamber and at a side thereof from said cooling means, said fan being so positioned and arranged as to malntain the air in the storage chamber in forced circulationwithin said chamber, and to draw the air from the cooling means and through the storage `chamber to the odor removing means and then deliver the purified air to and over the cooling means.

2. A refrigerator having a compartment for the storage of odorous foods, a refrigerant evap-v orating element attached to one of the walls of said compartment, a fan housing within said compartment, having an air inlet and an air outlet nozzle, said y"outlet nozzle being so positioned as to direct a stream of air over the evaporating element, an odor removing means mounted within said compartment and located adjacent the air inlet of the fan housing and a fan mounted within the fan housing for drawing the air from the compartment through said odor removing means and into the fan housing whereupon said air is delivered from said housing by the fan through the outlet nozzle.

3. A refrigerator cabinet having a compartment i for the storage of odorous foods, a refrigerant cooling unit-mounted at one side of said com' LAWRENCE A. PHILIP?. 

